Back in the summer it was a fun idea from Ariane Sherine in The Guardian, a Photoshop mockup, and a Pledgebank page. Then just before the pledge expired it started to get a bit big, with Matthew Parris writing about the effort to get ads on the buses in his […]
I thought the hearing with Baroness Ashton in the INTA Committee in the European Parliament would make some sparks fly. I was wrong. Ashton took the sensible, yet rather dull, approach of being pleasant and kind to the EP, and going out of the way to say that she would […]
So you want to watch the Baroness Ashton hearing in the EP? Good luck! Well, if you have any sort of non-standard computer that is. I could not manage to make the streaming work on Firefox or Safari on a Mac (both cut out continually), or even with Firefox or […]
The Socialist Group in the European Parliament have just published a press release in which Group Leader Martin Schulz is critical of the games being played by right wingers before Baroness Ashton’s hearing later this evening. Tricks are undoubtedly being played but, Martin, it takes one to know one I […]
Have a read of this article from BBC News Online. On the basis of one reading of it can any reader have the faintest idea what is actually going on? The headline – Vote splits Czechs over EU role – is very wide of the mark. It’s actually that Mirek […]
Via Talking About the EU – this is a great pic. It’s the leaders preparing for the family photograph at the Paris Eurogroup meeting that Brown also attended, but what else were they looking for? While the UK PM might partially help European countries find their way out of the […]
There are few times when politics in the EU can be fun. 23 languages and tiresome procedures mean there’s very little spectacle. Monday evening will be one of the rare exceptions. Designate European Commissioner for Trade Baroness Ashton will be facing more than 2 hours of questions in the International […]
It’s the first rule of EU negotiations: present a united front in Brussels and then, even if things don’t go your way, you can retreat to your national capital and say “OK, at least we fought for X, Y or Z”. Not so for Poland at this week’s European Council […]
Gawain at England Expects has an interesting article this evening that alleges that the contract for MyParl.eu has been cancelled. Lest we forget, this is the EU-funded project being run by Euractiv and Mostra that aimed to create a sort of social network of national parliamentarians and MEPs, and drew […]
European Parliament elections are scheduled for June 2009 and the party lists for Labour have been set for some time now. It was known that Glenys Kinnock would not seek re-election, and it was announced yesterday that Eluned Morgan MEP will not be standing in the 2009 either. Gary Titley, […]
From time to time up pops ex-German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer to demoan some aspect of how the EU conducts its business. Last week was no exception, with a short interview with Euractiv that contains this passge: I think we need an avant-garde to deepen integration. We are unable to move together because […]
Baroness Ashton has been nominated as the British member of the European Commission to replace Peter Mandelson, but she’ll be in post only until the summer of 2009 as a new Commission takes office in autumn 2009 (presuming she can take even up the position). She would of course be […]
